Ish Sankara was raised in Miami by a single mom after moving from Burkina-Faso, his native country. Ish grew up listening to classic 90’s rappers like 2Pac, Nas and Jay-Z while digging into his mom’s african cassettes collection, getting into artists like Gabonese composer Pierre-Claver Akendengue and soul-funk music player Manu Dibango. Ish is a mixture of African and Afro-American culture.